


Whipped™

by QualityMutants



Category: The Book of Mormon - Ambiguous Fandom, The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bad Puns, Connor can't make caramel, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, I still don't know what ganache is and at this point I'm too afraid to ask, I wrote this at 4am after binge watching the great British bake off, M/M, but like he didn't actually go, like so much fluff, school shooting is mentioned but only once, they're technically in college but it's kinda irrelevant, tw: mention of conversion therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 19:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20441051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QualityMutants/pseuds/QualityMutants
Summary: Kevin auditions for and is cast in the US Spin-off series of The Great British Bakeoff, where he meets fellow ex-mormon Connor McKinley. Fluff and bad baking puns occur. Also, Kevin just really really thinks Connor's eyes are pretty.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my lovely friend Erin, who introduced me to mcpriceley, as well as Mary Berry. I miss you, Bez please come back to Bake Off.

When ex mormon Kevin Price had first heard there’d be an American version of The Great British Bake-off, he knew instantly that it was his goal, no, duty, to be apart of it. 

He’d first been introduced to the British version a few years ago through Arnold, who’d recently been to England over the summer to visit some of his relatives there. Needless to say, Arnold returned more than excited about the show, and even more excited to force Kevin to binge watch all ten seasons of it, as well as the celebrity special. And as much as Kevin wanted to hate it and its cheesy jokes and blatant British-ness, he ended up loving it just as much, if not more than Arnold. 

His competitive nature and curious mind was what had urged him to start attempting the overly-complex treats showcased on the show, and he had been utterly flabbergasted to find out it was nothing as simple as making fairy cakes with his mother whenever they had to do fundraisers for the church. Nonetheless, he ploughed through, and two years later he was good enough to be considered a “baking pro” by Arnold’s standards.

Another year later, and he considered himself good enough to apply to the British Bake-off, considering forcing Arnold to ask his relatives if he could stay with them in order to prove his incredible baking talents to the whole British public. Unfortunately, (fortunately, if you’re a Brit), he didn’t make the cut; upon further research, he concluded that apparently the British public tend to hate Americans.

Arnold had laughed at that. His mother said it was likely because he didn’t live in the UK. However, as mentioned, he’d been more than willing to travel for it.

The defeat from Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith turned out to be a good thing, however, as a year later he found himself on the phone to the production team of The Great US Bake-off, who seemed more than interested in his “fascinating upbringing” as a mormon. 

“Bring two bakes – something savoury and something sweet,” they said. And that was that. With a huge grin plastering his face, he rang Arnold.

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Remember when I told you they’re making a US version of Bake-off,” he grinned.

Arnold laughed on the other end. “Yeah, you haven’t stopped talking about it. What, has Mary Berry decided to judge or something,” he said, hope seeping into his voice. Kevin laughed too.

“No, no -- I mean, obviously I wish but this is better!”

“Better than Berry?!” he half-feigned utter shock, “Go on!”

“Okay so I might have applied and long-story-short I’m meeting the production team next week.” He said it so excitedly and hurriedly that he wasn’t sure Arnold would even understand. In fact, it took a moment for the other boy to respond, in which Kevin assumed he was processing what he’d just been told.

“Y-you’re gonna be on Bake-off!? I mean I knew you were good at baking but considering a few years ago you didn’t even know how to make bread that’s just-- woah! Oh my god and you’re gonna meet everyone and -- oh! make sure to give me a personal shoutout! If I hadn’t forced you to watch it with me you’d never be here. Gosh, my impact! Amazing!”

“It’s true! I mean, first they have to like whatever I bring to the meeting-thing and then I have to do an audition, you know, like to make sure I’m TV material or whatever,” he laughed.

“Hmm, that was a nervous laugh.” Dammit. “You know they’ll think you’re amazing, right? I do!”

“Yeah; I mean I have a good feeling about it but you never know, you know?”

“Ah, I get you buddy. Just be yourself and don’t be nervous. I’m sure they’re gonna love you. And even if they don’t, but they definitely will, I still love you, Naba still loves you, your folks still love you. I mean, who wouldn’t love you!? You’re Kevin Joseph Price goddammit!” He was only half joking at that last part, Kevin could tell. Arnold always knew how to ease his insecurities and doubts; it was a quality in his friend he’d never understand yet was so grateful for.

He spoke with sincerity: “Thanks Arnold.”

“No problem! I’m gonna go tell Naba but make sure to call your parents and tell them the news! They’re gonna be so excited.”  
And that was that. 

The first meeting with the producers went well: they loved his salted black pepper bread as well as his favourite ariel-inspired mermaid cakes. However, he wasn’t surprised; he couldn’t be. He knew he was a good baker. Heck! He knew those mermaid cakes were pretty incredible. He wasn’t nervous.

He was nervous about the main auditions. As much as they tried to pass it off as an assessment of how they did under pressure or with complex technical challenges, everyone knew it was really to test how your personality was, and how it would help them gain viewers. Kevin could cope with being judged on his baking abilities, but being judged on personality alone was rather daunting, especially after developing a not-completely-uncalled-for reputation of being kinda egocentric. 

Both Arnold and Naba had said something along the lines of, “you’re an ex-mormon, Kev! That’s possibly one of the most interesting things I’ve ever heard from anyone on Bake-off.” He figured it was pretty different to previous contestants. But then again, if he’s learned anything, not many people like mormons.

However, when the time came to put his personality to the test, he found himself doing just fine. 

He found it fine to talk and bake and make funny comments whilst baking; he always had to do that when he went and baked at Arnold’s. Even when he baked at home in his apartment, he always facetimed his brother Jack who seemed to thoroughly enjoy just watching him bake whilst catching up. The point is, he sure could talk when baking. 

Amongst people he didn’t know, he did seem to find himself talking about himself a lot. (Mayhaps why, in high school, he’d gained that reputation of being egocentric). He talked about how being a mormon was and how now he just enjoys trying to live a good life, as well as -- you guessed it -- Orlando, Florida. He spoke about his favourite Disney movies and how a lot of his baking ideas end up being Disney-inspired. Most people found it kinda annoying, but the producers seemed to like it, so he didn’t bother stopping himself. 

That day, he’d managed to bake a perfect set of maple pecan blondie brownies, a sour cherry and pistachio danish pastry (the Technical’s seemed super difficult this year but he wasn’t too worried), as well as an incredible chocolate and red velvet triple-tiered cake resembling the disney castle in disneyland. He was insanely proud of himself, and the producers seemed to be just as impressed. 

By far the most impressive thing about Kevin’s baking abilities, however, was the fact that he was still just 20 years old, and had only been baking properly since he was around 16. Kevin knew from the start that he’d began baking a bit later than the other contestants of the show, who generally had been baking with their parents or other relatives whilst practically still in the womb. In essence, baking was a major part of their childhood; yet for Kevin, it didn’t even take up a quarter of his life. That, and his main experience of baking was just copying whatever they did on the show until he was good enough to come up with creative ideas on his own that could be carried out and executed nicely. 

One of the producers actually mentioned this to him as part of the pre-audition interview: “does the fact that you’re so young and will have had significantly less experience than other potential bakers in the competition make you nervous?” they’d asked.

Of course, he answered a polite “no, not at all,” with a blinding smile. He was Kevin Price; nothing was going to stop him from getting on this show and winning. He’d worked too damn hard.

And, well, this went on for a while. 

Constant callbacks and more challenges and auditions as the producers slowly cut the applicants down one-by-one in order to get their perfect twelve bakers, who they believed would entertain the american public the most. 

In a way, every day Kevin half expected a phone call saying he didn’t make it through to the next round, despite all of the producers and casting managers clearly taking a liking to him and his bakes. Arnold and his mother reassured him the most, with his mother calling him every night to ask how he was doing and what he was planning for the next challenging audition. He appreciated it a lot.

He had to appreciate it: the audition process was much more draining than it had seemed at first. On paper, it looked amazing! You think of something to bake every week and then you get to show it off, all whilst talking about yourself and your favourite things whilst a bunch of important-seeming people made notes about you. 

The reality was not so fantasy-like.

Every bake had to be better than the last; technical challenges kinda scared him -- you never knew what was going to come up, let alone if he’d have the baking knowledge required to know what to do if the instructions just said something basic and generic like “make a genoise sponge;” the majority of his week was spent trying to keep up with his studies and lectures all whilst practicing what he’d be making that week.

When the final call came -- “congratulations Kevin Price, you have been chosen to…” -- he sighed. He was more than pleased with his efforts, but he was even more pleased he wouldn’t have to look at another bag of flour or butter for a couple of weeks at least. 

He sat down at his desk and smiled to himself. “I did it. Fuck.” Then, he did the obvious next thing; he called his mother.

She screamed down the phone so loud that not even the fact it was on speaker could save his ears from ringing a bit. She gushed and gushed about how proud she was and that she’d tell his father immediately, as well as the rest of the extended family, before Kevin had to interject that he wasn’t sure if he was actually allowed to tell people or not. 

He felt so lucky. His family were amazing. Even after he decided to leave the church, they supported and loved him unconditionally, albeit after a few weeks of accepting it. Even if he didn’t get to see them as often anymore, it felt nice to hear they were proud of him even when doing non-mormon related things. They were proud of Kevin, not just Kevin the perfect mormon boy.

Next, he texted Arnold, then Naba, then Jack, who responded with a keyboard smash, a huge amount of emojis, and a long paragraph congratulatory text respectively.

He expected to not be able to sleep well that night, due to his bursting excitement and happiness. However, with the amount of stress he’d been under these past few weeks, he somehow managed to fall asleep faster than he ever had before.

In fact, he found himself sleeping well for the next six weeks -- a perfect replenisher and well-needed rest before The Great US Bake-off began, a time when he was almost certain he was going to be tired almost every single day.  
The tasks for each week were finally sent to him, and he planned his bakes, perfecting and polishing them as he did so. He almost cringed at the amount of cake that was filling up his apartment, so he left a message to his mother practically begging her to take them somewhere: “you can use them in a fundraiser or something, please? I just cannot eat this much stuff,” he’d pleaded.

The time arrived for him to meet his fellow contestants near the tent. The outside didn’t have the same charming British flare that he’d envisioned, but he was super happy nonetheless. He even managed to appreciate the little American flags hanging everywhere. 

A red-headed man who’d been standing close to him suddenly turned to face him. He was slightly shorter than Kevin which meant that Kevin’s eyes naturally fell on his hair: it was slightly curled and a rich orange-brown colour, slightly lighter at the roots. Kevin forced his gaze downwards to the man’s eyes, so blue they could’ve been neon. They reminded him of Cinderella's eyes…

“Um, hello? I’m Connor,” he said, “Connor Mckinley.” He smiled. Kevin smiled back, feeling suddenly very at ease.

“Kevin,” he paused for a moment. “Price. Nice to meet you.”

“Ah,” Connor grinned. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Very nice to meet you,” he thought involuntarily, not quite sure why himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Kevin knew from their very first meeting that he’d get along with Connor quite well, he just didn’t think it would be this quickly that they’d become so close.

On the first day, the signature challenge, whilst Kevin baked ginger shortbread cookies, Connor baked some sort of rosemary-induced cookies with beautiful intricate fondant roses as decoration, which the judges seemed to like the most. Normally, he’d be jealous, but he just found himself left with a warm feeling of contentedness spreading through his chest. 

He felt lucky, too, as Connor’s station was right in front of his, which meant they could talk more even as they were baking. And they did.

Kevin learned that Connor was in college as a musical theatre major, and that when he wasn’t baking he was auditioning or teaching dance to kids for extra money. Kevin supposed the theatre was Connor’s Orlando. 

It was nice to hear about Connor’s life; he wanted to learn as much as possible about him. He wasn’t sure why he felt so drawn to the other boy.

But with that, the first ever signature challenge was over and done with, and the twelve bakers were finally free to leave the tent and chat. Kevin waited for Connor to finish clearing up the table in a feeble attempt to help the washing up crew.

Connor smiled at him, and it brought back that warm feeling in Kevin’s chest. “I’m glad that’s over,” he laughed.

“I’m not. Just means the technical’s coming up.”

Connor’s eyes widened: “oh gosh yes! I’m glad that one went well then. I’ll probably mess up the technical.”

“I’m sure you won’t.” He was sure. “Besides, I’m pretty sure yours was the best in the signature so even if you came last in the technical, you’re definitely not going home. And you even have the showstopper, which I think will be incredible!”

They smiled at each other. “Oh!” Connor said suddenly, “How did you get into baking? I heard you say earlier you’ve only been doing it for a few years.”

Kevin chuckled, his arm stretching the rub the back of his neck rather sheepishly. “It’s a funny story really,” he explained; “my best friend went to England and discovered the show and then when he came back, he forced me to watch all the seasons. I said to him, ‘it looks easy, I could do that,’ and he said ‘do it then’ and, well, here I am.”

“Oh my gosh, no way!” he laughed. “My story’s pretty boring in comparison.”

“No, no! Tell me!” He wanted to know everything about him. 

“Nothing special really, I used to bake with my dad for Church fundraisers.”

Oh.

“You’re Christian?”

“We were mormons.”

_ Oh _ .

He must’ve taken a while to reply, because Connor continued: “Please don’t be freaked out! I’m not gonna like try and convert you or anything, we left the church last year anyway-”

“No, no, it’s fine. I was a mormon too. My family still are but I’m not.”

“Oh. How come?”

He froze a bit, then relaxed. It’s only Connor. And considering he’d only known Connor for a day, he sure felt himself being a little too willing to open up.

“Um, it’s kind of a depressing story.”

“Ah, you don’t have to tell me if it’ll make you sad.”

A small sigh of relief escaped his lips. He spoke quietly. “Thank you.”

“You wanna hear why I left? It’s happy, I promise.”

“Sure.”

“I’m gay.” Oh. “My mom tried to get me sent to one of those scary conversion camp things, but my dad wasn’t having it. I spent like eighteen years trying to turn it off; next thing I know, we’ve left the church and my dad’s telling me to forget the Bible as long as we stay good people.”

Kevin gave Connor a small smile. “Your dad sounds amazing. I’m glad you got out.”

“Me too, or I’d be off somewhere on a mission right now instead of baking my butt off,” he grinned.

“Oh my god, same,” he laughed. 

“How old are you then, nineteen?”

“Twenty.”

“Ah same.”

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Normally, Kevin found silences around people he hadn’t known for long to be rather awkward; with Connor it almost seemed like he’d known him for years. It was as if he’d known him before and was just re-connecting with him. He’d never felt like this before, but Connor was so kind that he felt himself inviting this new feeling in, inviting Connor into his mind.

  
  
  
  


The rest of the weekend went smoothly: the technical challenge (a baumkuchen) turned out to be incredibly difficult, but Kevin came in third, and Connor came in fourth. The showstopper went exceptionally well, and Kevin knew that he’d done well. He was just as pleased to hear Connor’s praises, too, which was not something he was used to feeling about others, especially his competition.

Before meeting Connor, and long before the week began, Kevin remembered vowing to himself that he’d win star baker in the first week, just to show everyone he was there to stay. However, when it was announced that Connor was star baker, he couldn’t even bring himself to feel jealous, let alone sad or even slightly pissed off. On the contrary, he actually found himself feeling genuinely happy and proud of Connor, who, as soon as hearing his name being announced, jumped up and ran to Kevin to hug him. Kevin was not a hugger, but after seeing the sparkles in Connor’s eyes and how blindingly bright his smile was, he felt himself hugging back with the same intensity. 

“Congratulations! I told you you’d be incredible,” he spoke softly into the other boy’s hair. He felt Connor smile even more, if that was even possible. He pulled away.

“I know. Thank you.”

And when Connor went off to talk to the others, the judges came up to him. 

“You did an amazing job this week,” they told him. “Keep up the good work and we think you’ll do very well in this competition.”

He thanked them, and that was that. 

As they began pouring out of the tent, he decided to text the group chat (Arnold had made it -- “you can keep us all updated at once without having to tell us separately,” he’d said) and tell them how well it had gone. Arnold responded first, saying he knew it would go well, then asking if he’d made any friends. He thought about Connor for a second, before replying a simple, “yes.”

He’d been about to set off to go home when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to be met with wide blue eyes and a pretty smile beaming up at him.  _ Pretty _ .

“Give me your phone,” he said, already taking Kevin’s phone. “I’m giving you my number; make sure to text me.”

He was a bit stunned at Connor’s forwardness, but he found himself smiling anyway: “I will.”

Connor hugged him again. He liked Connor’s hugs. “See you next week!”

“See you!”

He made sure to text Arnold, not the group chat (his mother and Jack were in it), about Connor.

  
  
  
  


“He seems really nice,” is all Arnold said, after Kevin told him everything he knew about Connor. He gave him a look.

“What? What’s that look for?” he asked, genuinely confused.

Arnold gave him a slight smile. “You’re my best friend, Kev. I know you. This isn’t just you making a new friend. What’s up?”

He sighed. He knew Arnold would probably figure out that something was off eventually but he had expected a little more time to figure things out himself before anyone else caught on. 

The truth was he didn’t know what was going on. All he knew was that he really liked Connor, and felt like he’d known him his whole life. He’d text him as soon as he got home, and they hadn’t stopped texting. Oh, that’s probably another reason Arnold knew something was up: he wasn’t big on texting. His texts were generally one word or very straight-to-the-point. With Connor there were double and triple texts, paragraphs sometimes. Connor didn’t seem to mind or find it annoying, as he did the same.

“I don’t know.” Arnold raised an eyebrow. “No, really! I don’t know. He’s just really nice, you’re right about that. Oh! He used to be a mormon too, did I tell you?”

“You might have mentioned it.”

“So, like, we have a similar background. That’s probably why we get on so well.”

“Well, do you talk about being ex-mormons a lot?”

“No.”

“Then that is probably not why,” Arnold laughed. “Two ex-mormons on one season though, that’s weird of the producers to do that.”

Kevin hummed in reply. He’d thought about it before; it was quite odd that the producers would cast two very similar people, and he’d mentioned it to Connor.

“Connor said it’s probably because he’s gay. Diversity and all that.”

“He’s gay huh? And he told you that?” Arnold was smirking now, and Kevin was even more confused.

“Uh yeah? Why, you don’t think it’s a problem, right?” he asked, suddenly quite self-conscious.

“Oh, god! Of course not!”

“Then…”

Arnold sighed with a smile and patted him on the shoulder. “He makes you smile. I’m really glad, Kev.”

Kevin was glad Arnold didn’t push further. He wasn’t stupid; he knew (or, he thought he knew) what Arnold was thinking. But Kevin was nowhere near ready for that conversation. He just wasn’t sure. All he was certain about was that he liked Connor very much; he liked texting Connor; Connor was very pretty; and that he really missed Connor’s hugs. It had only been three days since he last saw him, and he already craved the other boy’s company. 

“He’s really pretty, Arnold,” is the last thing he said about the matter before Arnold insisted he let him knead the dough as he practised his bread for bread week.

He didn’t realise it would be this frantic. Producers were constantly calling him asking what he’d decided to do as well as detailed descriptions of decoration and ingredients he’d need. On one hand, it was comforting to know he’d be getting lots of support from the crew, but on the other hand, it was completely exhausting. 

He was still juggling his lectures and work and baking whilst remembering to text Connor throughout the day and trying to get a decent amount of sleep a night. In fact, getting to constantly talk to Connor was rather comforting, as he was going through the same thing. That’s also what he told Arnold as an excuse for why he texted him so often and so much. 

_ “He just understands what I’m going through,”  _ he had said. Arnold had just shrugged and gave him a knowing smirk.

  
  
  
  


By the time Kevin had to head back to the tent, he was proud to call Connor one of his closest friends despite only a whopping seven days of knowing him. 

He’d been worried about the weekend to be honest, who wouldn’t be? Just because he did well last week didn’t guarantee his safety this week whatsoever. He didn’t want to get sent home just yet, and he certainly didn’t want to see Connor go home anytime soon. 

His worried soon went away, however. After Connor practically ran up to him and engulfed him in his arms. He’d missed this. 

“I missed you,” Connor said, half-jokingly, before pulling away. “Like, I know we still spoke but I missed you.” It was nice to hear that someone missed him, actually liked his company.

“I missed you too,” he said sincerely.

And just like that, they slipped back into their routine. They’d chat and encourage each other during each challenge, Kevin congratulating himself mentally every time he managed to make Connor smile. He really liked Connor’s smile.

When Kevin won star baker, Connor jumped up and ran to give him a hug, as if he’d won himself. It felt nice to know someone was rooting for him as much as he was rooting for them. 

“Congratulations,” he said. “I knew it’d be you this week. You’re amazing. You really are so amazing.” Oh. That was it. Connor had looked straight into his eyes when he said that, and Kevin had felt every word. It sent a fluttery sensation down his stomach and his heart notably started beating so rapidly he felt it may just beat out of his chest. Oh. 

_ Oh. _

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

“So,” Arnold said, grabbing one of the newly-baked pastries on the kitchen counter, “he said you did good and you freaked out and said he has pretty eyes. Forgive me, Kev, but that’s hilarious.” He punctuated his statement with a not-so-graceful laugh.

Kevin rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t my fault, I’m telling you! When you meet Connor, you’ll understand.”

Arnold hummed as he was still chewing. He waited a moment before responding. “Either that… or you’re just a bit whipped for him.”

Yikes.

He attempted to feign ignorance; he had no clue what Arnold was talking about and was definitely not whipped.

“What do you mean by that?” He couldn’t even convince himself.

“Dude, come on. We both know you know exactly what I mean.”

“I just think he’s nice.” He looked at the floor.

“Do you think Naba’s nice?” Where was he going with this?

“Yeah, obviously, but that’s diffe-”

“And how is it different, exactly?”

“I don’t like Naba like that.” Shit, what was he thinking? He wasn’t thinking; that was the issue. Arnold was asking these questions too rapidly.

“Like what, exactly?” He was smirking now.

“I don’t know Arnold.” It was only half true. He knew it, he just didn’t want to admit it -- neither to himself nor Arnold.

“You wanna know what I think?” 

“Not really at this point.”

“I think you like him the same way I like Naba.”

Big yikes.

No, he could fix this.

“You’re wrong.”

“You like him  _ more  _ than I like Naba?!” he feigned shock. “Nearly impossible, but the way you talk about him, I might even have to agree.”

“Arnold. He’s just really nice to me. Besides, I’m not even gay; I liked that girl Josephine a few years ago remember?” Not even nearly convincing, but he vowed to hold on to this lie until whatever flipping routine his stomach was doing decided to stop so he could think about what was going on.

“Hmm, I remember. Doesn’t mean you don’t like Connor, though. You could easily be bi.” Stumped again. Ugh.

“Whatever.”

“What colour are his eyes?” Weird topic change but okay.

“Blue, why?”

“What kind of blue?”

“What’s this got to do with anything,” he huffed. “Well, since you asked: they’re like a really bright almost-neon blue. They’re like… so blue they remind me of Cinderella’s eyes! Remember when I made you watch Cinderella? Yeah,  _ that  _ blue. And when he talks about theatre and musicals and all that, they get even brighter. It’s literally like there are stars in them. Oh! And they really compliment his hair! His hair’s like Cinderella’s too but a bit more red -- and curlier. Although, he told me it used to be blonde but he tried to dye it brown and he ended up a red-head -- he really could be Cinderella. Hmm, I suppose that kinda makes me Prince Charming. I’d be an ugly step-sister or the fair god-mother but let’s be honest: I totally look like Prince Charming. Anyway yeah, he’s like Cinderella and I’m Prince Charming and his eyes are really really really blue.”

Arnold was silent for a moment. More than a moment, actually.

“Do you realise what you just said?”

“You asked what colour his eyes are and I said blue; it’s too basic a description so I went into more detail. Now, hopefully, you understand why I told him he has pretty eyes. I couldn’t not. That would be lying.” He was proud of himself for turning that.

Arnold just laughed, practically crushing his pride in half. “First of all: it would not be lying as no one said his eyes weren’t pretty. You just blurted it out because you had a gay panic.”

“N-”

“Second of all: you literally just said you wanna be Connor’s Prince Charming. Sounds pretty gay to me, bud.”

Kevin sighed. Arnold clearly wasn’t going to give this up any time soon.

“Okay, whatever. So what if I really like Connor? So what if sometimes I get sad because he hasn’t hugged me all week? So what if I think he’s really pretty? It doesn’t matter, Arnold. I don’t care-” he cared immensely- “and neither should you.”

Arnold chuckled. “That’s gay.”

“Yeah, well. Maybe so.”

“Ah, I’m glad you’ve come to terms with it; I was worried you wouldn’t be ready by the time he starts liking you back. Wait, does he like you back yet?”

“I haven’t come to terms with anything, if I’m being completely honest. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know if he likes me. And,” he looked towards the counter with a recipe written down whilst furrowing his brows, “I don’t know what a fucking pastry ganache is.”

“Hmm. Me neither.”

They sat in silence for a moment, both thinking. Arnold gave a sudden gasp. “Connor might know,” he said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

Kevin threw a whisk at him.

“Okay, no really though, you should ask him. Also, now we’ve more or less established that you like Connor, we need him to fall in love with you.”

“I don’t know about  _ love _ -”

“As I was saying, in love. Now, I’m the one with the girlfriend, which means my flirting game is much better than yours, you can’t even deny that.” Oh, he could deny it alright.

Before Arnold got with Naba, he was an absolute utter mess around her. He’d stutter and stumble over his words and trip over whenever he saw her. He couldn’t even pronounce her name correctly for the first couple of months. Kevin was thrilled that she find this endearing; he knew Arnold deserved to be happy; he just did not understand how Arnold ended up with her after such a tragic courting display.

He, on the other hand, could flirt with just about anyone. He didn’t tell Arnold this -- it seemed unnecessary -- but at work, sometimes he’d flirt with customers just for fun, just to see if he could get a person’s number. It was like a mini-challenge, and he was damn good at it.

Nonetheless, he gave Arnold a “sure.”

“My first piece of advice is that you try and make him laugh. Everyone loves to laugh, and everyone includes Connor. Hence, Connor loves to laugh and if you’re the one making him laugh then he’ll love you.”

“I already do that. I love it when he laughs, he has a really nice laugh.”

“Ha, that’s gay.” Kevin rolled his eyes. “Anyway, if you’re already making him laugh then you need to make him laugh when he’s not expecting to laugh. Like, I don’t know, when there’s a baking mishap in the tent and his eggs haven’t fried or something.”

“We don’t really fry eggs but I get where you’re coming from.” From someone with zero flirting abilities, that wasn’t a half bad idea. Unfortunately, Connor never seemed to mess up. Well, fortunately, he supposed. He’d hate to actually see Connor sad.

  
  
  


Eventually, in week 7, a time came when Connor did seem to be in a bit of a baking panic. It was not, however, over fried eggs. 

It was during the showstopper, of all things. Connor had been trying to make some caramel yet it was his fifth attempt and it just kept crystallising. Connor, being quite the perfectionist, was refusing to just scrap the caramel and come up with something on the spot. 

As Noel yelled “ten more minutes left, bakers!” Kevin found himself just finishing off the last of the decorations on his tempered chocolate hazelnut collar. Brilliant. He looked up at Connor just as he finished; he was shocked at what he saw.

There he was, his star baker, nearly in tears over some caramel. “How many times have you tried it now, Con?”

“Seven.” As his voice broke, Kevin felt a piece of his heart break as well. There was no way he’d be able to just stand and watch.

“Okay,” he started, walking over to Connor’s station, “what do you need to do after you’ve made the caramel?”

Connor sniffled a bit and gazed up at him, slightly confused. “Just some piping on the chocolate, why?”

Kevin smiled down at him. “You get started on that, I’ll make the caramel, then just tell me what to do with it.”

“What? Are you sure?!”

“Of course, oh my god! Go go, pipe the chocolate!”

Connor practically  _ giggled _ . It was a beautiful sound, even after coming through his tears. Kevin felt happy he’d been able to cheer him up. Oh right! He was supposed to be making him laugh. Okay okay.

“Kev?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks, for helping me; and cheering me up; and making me laugh.” He spoke so softly, it was nearly a whisper.

_ Make him laugh more _ .

“Oh, I don’t want laughs,” he joked.

“Ah and why’s that?” Connor smirked and raised an eyebrow. It was so Arnold-like.

“It’s a comp _ bread _ tition.”

Connor’s mouth dropped open, and a few shocked laughs were drawn out. “Kevin Price, you absolute loser! I can’t believe you just said that.” He could hardly speak through his laughter; Kevin was worried it would affect his piping. 

“I’m funny right, we know.” He poured the perfectly done caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper.

Connor raised a hand in the air incredulously. “It’s not even bread week! Literally where did that come from?!”

_ “Two minutes left, bakers!” _

“Shoot, okay Kev I need the caramel just kind of shattered then I’ll place it on last minute, thank you so much!”

He quickly broke the now solid caramel into shards and passed them to Connor, who just about managed to get them on the cake in such a way that it looked like he’d spent at least twenty minutes getting them to look carefully done and intricate. Kevin could only watch in amazement and admiration. 

_ “Time’s up!” _

Connor turned to Kevin. “Lifesaver. You literally just saved my life.” He beamed at him, and Kevin internally swooned.

“You did all of this! Look at it, it’s amazing! You’re amazing.”

Connor’s cheeks went rosy. Was he blushing?

“Thanks Kevin.” He hesitated for a moment. “I think you’re pretty amazing, too.”

In the end, it wasn’t the showstopper that halted Connor from getting star baker for the third week in a row: it was the technical, which was good and came fourth, but it just wasn’t as good as Rahul’s, and Rahul took home star baker that weekend. Neither Kevin nor Connor minded; Rahul deserved it and he was a nice guy.

Later that day, they’d been chatting just as they usually had, when Connor mentioned his dad.

“Ah, my dad used to make caramel for my mom and I. It was great but he’ll never show me how he made it without it crystallising because it’s his ‘secret recipe’ or something. I tried just googling it, and it worked a few times but you know…” he trailed off. “After we left the church, he didn’t feel like he had to bake anymore, so he just sorta stopped? Obviously I carried on but I’ll never be as good as he was.”

“Your dad must be Duff Goldman if he’s really that amazing,” he laughed, “because from what I’ve seen, you’re pretty damn good. A force to be reckoned with, if you will.”

Connor laughed and playfully pushed his arm; “oh shut up!”

“My mom and I baked for church too sometimes. Only like cakes and stuff though.”

“Ah, that sounds cute. You’re cute.” Oop.

His heart stopped for a second;  _ play it cool _ .

“Don’t, you’ll make me blush,” he joked, but the statement still stood. Flirting 101.

“That’s the goal.” Connor seemed a lot more serious now.

Time to get serious then.

“I’ve never met anyone like you,” he said, truthfully. “It feels like I’ve known you my whole life.”

Connor gave him a small smile. “I said the same thing about you to my friend, Chris. It’s weird, right? We literally got on so well so quickly, since day one.”

Kevin hummed. “I wish I’d known you for longer. I’ve missed out.”

“Likewise.”

“I wish I’d known you when I decided to quit being a mormon.” He felt his own voice falter and silently reprimanded himself. He wondered when he made the decision to talk about it, or if Connor just made him feel strong enough to talk about it.

He continued.

“In my senior year of high school, there was a school shooting.” He heard Connor give a small gasp before placing his hand on his knee for comfort, support maybe. “I watched a few of my classmates die right in front of me.” He shivered. “Before that, I’d always been the type of person to see the good in everything you know? Arnold says any time I felt down about anything I always managed to rationalise it by thinking ‘ _ oh, it’s okay, I’m a mormon and therefore I believe everything will be okay _ .’ It was hard to think that when people were being shot right in front of me.

“I was so scared, Con. No matter how much I prayed, God wouldn’t save anyone. And after that, I ended up just doubting God’s existence altogether.”

“That’s completely understandable. I think you’re really brave, Kev.”

“You do?”

“Oh my gosh yes! If I’d been in that situation, I would’ve ended up in therapy not just a loss of belief.” Kevin chuckled a bit.

“I went and told my parents a couple months after that I wanted to leave the church. They were mad for a couple weeks but I think they understood. I’m so glad they understood.”

“Me too.”

“I’m also glad I can drink coffee now. I wouldn’t be surviving this whole experience without coffee.”

“Gosh, I know! I don’t even like coffee but I’ve been drinking so much of it lately just to try and keep myself somewhat alert.”

Kevin was surprised by how easy that was. He was happy to have told someone, especially Connor, who didn’t make too big of a deal about it but was there to support him nonetheless. Maybe Connor was just about perfect after all.

When they parted, Connor gave Kevin his usual goodbye hug, before reminding him to text him. He wasn’t sure if there was a capacity for how much you could like a person, but if there was, he was pretty sure he liked Connor enough to fill or even exceed it.

  
  
  
  


“He flirted with you?!”

“Arnold please, it was literally just for a second and I’m not even sure it was flirting.”

“No no, I personally have decided it was flirting. So he likes you. Perfect!”

“He might not-”

“He called you cute, Kev.”

“That’s just a fact.”

Arnold scoffed. “Whatever. Anyway, I was thinking about something you may have accidentally said last week.”

“Uh, what?”

“You said, and I quote, ‘so what if I get sad because he hasn’t hugged me all week.’”  _ Shit.  _ It wasn’t even his fault: Connor’s hugs were good and Arnold had gone on about it for so long that he just ended up practically going on a rant.

“So what?” He knew what.

“Kevin, you hate hugs.”

“Um,” he frantically tried to think of an excuse. “No I don’t.”

“I’ve known you for six years and whenever I or anyone has tried to hug you, you’ve physically pushed them off. You even hesitate to hug your mom. Your  _ mom, Kevin.” _

There was really no point in trying to argue anymore. It was true. Whatever.

“You got me there,” was all he could say.

“So, you just… hug Connor?”

“Uh yeah.”

“Like, you hug him back and everything, not just him hugging you?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’ll probably see on the show-”

“You hug him on camera!?”

“I guess so? I-”

“Kevin Joseph Price, you’re completely whipped. I can’t even. I’m literally sat here shocked.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Arnold.”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of the biggest deal ever.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. He couldn’t hide his smile, however. He didn’t mind being slightly whipped for Connor Mckinley.

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

The final week came, and Kevin, in a completely off-brand turn of events, found himself rooting for Connor instead of himself. I know: literally what the fuck. He just really liked Connor.

He knew that Connor wouldn’t even be sad if he lost; he’d more than likely be just as happy for whoever else won, and it was between him, Kevin, and Rahul. 

Kevin wanted Connor to win, as a ‘fuck you’ to Connor’s mom.

He was excited to see everyone again for the grand finale, as well as have his family and Arnold and Naba there to support him. He couldn’t wait for them to meet Connor.

A tap to his shoulder: “Kevin! This is my dad.” 

Connor’s dad was tall and blonde and would be intimidating if he didn’t have the same warm smile Connor had. Kevin shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said, matching his smile.

“Nice to meet you too, Kevin. I’ve heard a lot about you,” he said, quickly side-eying his son, who nudged him. Strange.

Before he could say anything else to him, Connor quickly ushered him away, offering a quick “bye dad, I’m meeting Kevin’s friends!” causing his dad to chuckle slightly.

“He seems nice,” Kevin said.

“Oh, he’s the best! Where are your friends?”

“Ah, they’re…” Kevin looked around the field for a moment, before his eyes landed on Nabulungi, her arm linked to Arnold’s -- “there.”

He prayed Arnold wouldn’t make a fuss.

As he’d learned from previous experience, praying doesn’t always work.

“Oh, you must be Connor!” Arnold piped up, not waiting to hear anything Kevin had to say. “I’ve heard so much about you, it feels like I already know you.”

Connor chuckled: “you must be Arnold, hi! And really, Kevin talks about me that much?!” he turned to Kevin, whose face was turning beetroot red. “I’m flattered babe.” 

He said it so casually that if Kevin hadn’t already been mid-stroke, he may have overlooked it. Arnold did not overlook it. Neither did Naba. Both turned to him, wide-eyed, with shit-eating grins on their faces.

“I didn’t think it was that much,” he tried to say convincingly.

“No it’s pretty frequent,” Naba continued, reminding Kevin yet again how perfect she was for Arnold. “I had your whole appearance in my mind before even meeting you, and I was pretty accurate.”

“Yes,”  _ no,  _ “Kevin here did not hesitate to give us a full description, even comparing you to-”

“Arnold, I think he gets it! Fine, maybe I mentioned you to them a lot,” he said sheepishly to Connor, who gave him a nice smile back. 

“You’re cute.” Again. “I probably talk about you to my dad a lot. In fact,” he turned back to Arnold and Nabulungi, “my best friend, Chris, has told me to shut up about him a few times.”

Connor Mckinley, an angel. Truly an incredible man, saving him from true embarrassment.

Kevin wrapped an arm around the other boy’s shoulders, who seemed to lean in to the contact. If either Arnold or Naba wanted to comment on the fact that Kevin usually hated physical contact, they didn’t. Kevin was glad. 

“We should probably get going, Con.”

“Mmm, you’re right. It was nice meeting you both,” he said to Arnold and Naba with a wave.

Once he turned around, however, Kevin saw the two of them making heart signs and kissy faces at him. He rolled his eyes but again couldn’t help the smile creeping onto his face. He was glad his two best friends liked Connor. 

Kevin gave Connor a hug before the last ever showstopper. “You’ll do great,” he said.

And, in the end, he did do great, better than great in fact, he won the first ever US version of bake-off. Kevin finally understood the people on previous seasons who’d lost and didn’t seem jealous or sad, just pure happiness for the winner.

In fact, Kevin was over the moon.

He’d been a finalist on his favourite show, learned what a ganache was, and met probably the best boy in the world. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit in love with him already.

Connor Mckinley was beautiful, kind, generous, and passionate; he listened to all of Kevin’s rants about disney and all of his extremely detailed experiences of Orlando; he made him feel safe and happy and wanted all at once. He was really special. 

When Connor was told he’d just won bake off, he didn’t smile, not even a little bit. He turned to look at Kevin and silently walked over to him, everyone around them watching with complete curiosity. He spoke in a whispered tone. “What do you think?”

And, of course, Kevin told him the truth. He placed his hand on Connor’s cheek ever-so-lightly, and said, “I think you deserve this. Smile: it’s a pretty look on you.” Connor did smile. He wasn’t sure whether it was because it sank in that he’d won or if it was because Kevin had just blatantly called him pretty on television in front of about a hundred people. He knew how dramatic that was, but he also knew that Connor loved drama.

“You’re the best, you know.” Kevin giggled before pulling Connor closer to him, engulfing him in a hug. 

“I know.”

  
  
  


By the time the show finally aired, both Connor and Chris had become integrated into their group of friends. It made more than perfect sense for them to all sit and watch it together each week.

For Kevin, he was glad the filming was over and he could finally just enjoy it. He got to see Connor more than ever which was also a plus.

For everyone else, they were not-so-glad the filming was over. As now, Kevin and Connor could flirt non-stop, and it was almost always in front of everyone else.

At first, Arnold had found it funny. He told Kevin it was fun to see him actually be interested in someone, and it was fun to see his dynamic change when flirting with Connor. To use his words, he’d said something along the lines of, ‘you bounce off each other really well. He flirts, then you flirt, and it never seems to be awkward, even when you’re saying some of the most ridiculous things.’

At a certain point, however, everyone, even Arnold, seemed to be sick of the pair constantly flirting but not actually getting together. 

“You know,” Arnold said once when they were all together but Connor had gone to use the bathroom, “it was fun at first, but it’s getting a bit tiring watching you two pretend you don’t know you like each other.”

“Ew, true!” Chris added, “you both must know at this point so just date him, it’s not hard.”

“I agree --” Naba, too. “It’s almost pathetic. He was honestly sat on you before and don’t think we all missed you playing with his hair, because we all saw.”

He had no chance to reply as Connor came back, the others pretending they hadn’t said anything. And, of course, he sat back where he’d been sitting before: in Kevin’s lap.

The ad break finally finished, and the show resumed. It was about week two. Kevin had won star baker that week, if he remembered correctly.

He had remembered correctly. What he had not remembered was that there were cameras actually filming his win. 

_ “Congratulations,”  _ TV Connor said _ . “I knew it’d be you this week. You’re amazing. You really are so amazing.” _

A pause.

_ “You have really pretty eyes.” _

“Oh god, Kev!” Arnold burst into laughter. “I remember you telling me you did this but I didn’t think it would be like this. What the fuck was that?!”

Chris and Naba were laughing too hard to even speak. Kevin could feel his face burning.

A moment too long passed and he realised he hadn’t even thought about the victim himself sitting literally on his lap, staring at him. He dared to look him in the eyes.

He was expecting Connor to laugh it off, not give him probably the softest smile he’d ever seen on a person and lean in to his ear to whisper with utmost sincerity, “your eyes are really pretty too.” Kevin could just nod as he blushed even more, and Connor leaned back into his chest. Maybe Connor did like him…

  
  
  
  


The other weeks passed by fairly smoothly. The show made it obvious that Kevin and Connor flirted non-stop during the course of filming, but it was nothing as embarrassing as week two. In fact, it was all fairly tame in comparison to how they were now.

Connor still sat on Kevin’s lap every time they all sat and watched together; at weekends, they’d take it in turns visiting each other so they could bake together. It was pretty cute, if Kevin did say so himself.

Then came week seven.

Things had been going normally, really standard, until it was shown what the challenge was for the showstopper that week, and the memories came flooding back to Kevin: the caramel week. 

AKA: the week Arnold had ingrained in his mind that he had to make Connor laugh, and in order to do so, Kevin had decided to make  _ the  _ shittiest baking pun he’d ever heard on any season of bake off, including the celebrity special.

They’d decided to sit differently that day. Instead of Connor sitting directly on Kevin, Kevin sat on the floor with Connor sat in between his legs. Connor was leant back, and Kevin’s arms were wrapped lazily around the other boy’s shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye, Kevin saw Nabulungi roll her eyes at them. 

Kevin did think about it: why weren’t they together? He had a feeling Connor liked him back at this point. On top of that, they literally already acted like a couple anyway. On paper, there was no reason for them not to be together. He just couldn’t bring himself to ask Connor that.

Yikes, here it came.

They all watched intently as Connor started his fifth caramel attempt, clearly beginning to look a bit worked up. They showed Rahul next and his incredibly decorated chocolate pecan collar.

_ ~“Ten more minutes left, bakers!”~ _

_ Kevin’s face was shown up close, smiling, just adding the finishing touches to his creation. As he looked up, his smile disappeared. _

_ “How many times have you tried it now, Con?” _

_ “Seven.” His voice broke. _

_ “Okay,” Kevin started, walking over to Connor’s station, “what do you need to do after you’ve made the caramel?” _

_ “Just some piping on the chocolate, why?” _

_ “You get started on that, I’ll make the caramel, then just tell me what to do with it.” _

_ “What? Are you sure?!” _

_ “Of course, oh my god! Go go, pipe the chocolate!” _

_ Connor giggled. _

_ “Kev?” _

_ “Hmm?” _

_ “Thanks, for helping me; and cheering me up; and making me laugh, ” he half-whispered. _

_ “Oh, I don’t want laughs.” _

_ “Ah and why’s that?” Connor smirked and raised an eyebrow. _

_ “It’s a comp _ bread _ tition.” _

_ Connor’s mouth dropped open. _

“Kev!!!” Arnold practically yelped. “Is that because-”

“Yup.” He gave a defeated sigh.

Chris was nearly in tears: “I can’t believe you’d make a pun that bad. That really was awful.”

“Thank you,” he said, sarcasm seeping through his vocals. He could even feel Connor trying not to laugh.

“It  _ was _ a bad pun, babe.”

_ “Kevin Price, you absolute loser! I can’t believe you just said that.” _

_ “I’m funny right, we know.” He poured the caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. _

_ “It’s not even bread week! Literally where did that come from?!” _

_ ~“Two minutes left, bakers!”~ _

_ “Shoot, okay Kev I need the caramel just kind of shattered then I’ll place it on last minute, thank you so much!” _

_ He quickly broke the now solid caramel into shards and passed them to Connor. _

_ ~“Time’s up!”~ _

_ Connor turned to Kevin. “Lifesaver. You literally just saved my life.”  _

“Bit dramatic, Con,” Chris laughed, earning a pillow to the face.

_ “You did all of this! Look at it, it’s amazing! You’re amazing.” _

_ “Thanks Kevin.” He hesitated for a moment. “I think you’re pretty amazing, too.” _

They were all silent for a moment, half shocked at what they’d seen. Arnold, being Arnold, broke this silence.

“Well… that was gay.”

“Valid,” Connor replied.

Naba was not having it. “Even you agree?!”

Connor shrugged. “I am gay so it’s a valid statement.”

Okay so they were playing it casual. 

“Yeah, I mean I’m bi so it’s valid,” he said casually.

Connor snapped to look at him. 

“What?!”

“I agreed, it’s valid.”

“You’re bi?”

“Yeah?”

“You never told me that?”

“Don’t worry about it, Con,” Arnold added, “he only figured it out a couple months ago. Around the time he met-” 

Naba covered his mouth with her hand. Kevin silently thanked her.

“I didn’t think you liked guys.” Oh. “Why did no one tell me this?”

Crickets.

Arnold had somehow managed to free himself from Naba. “I mean, he’s not exactly Straighty McStraight-face if you get what I mean.”

Kevin narrowed his eyes at him, who only laughed in return.

Chris piped up. “I didn’t know he was specifically bi but also didn’t he say you had pretty eyes a few weeks ago?”

Then Naba: “for goodness sake! Look at how you’re sat. He doesn’t even hug his own mother yet can sit with you like this nearly every week!”

“Maybe so,” was his only defence.

Connor sighed. “Stand up,” he said, standing up himself. “Come on, I need to talk to you.”

Oh.

Connor led him to the next room.

“Now I know you like guys,” he started, “I’m gonna go on a whim and guess you like me.”

Kevin nodded. Connor rolled his eyes. Huh?

“You disaster, Kevin Price! If you’d told me you were bi, we could’ve been dating for months now!”

Oh. 

“Oh,” he said dumbly. “I was thinking about asking you why we weren’t together.”

“You’re such a disaster!” he rolled his eyes again, but he was laughing now. “If you’d asked me that we would’ve just been dating then and there. Ridiculous! You’re lucky you’re so cute!”

“Won you over already then?” he said with a wink, easing quickly into this very strange situation.

“You won me over when you told me you watched Princess and The Frog in secret because your parents didn’t like the Voodoo themes.” He chuckled for a moment before taking on a more reflective smile. “It’s so you. I really like you Kevin Price.”

“I can’t remember when I started liking you. One moment it was like ‘oh, he’s really nice;’ the next thing I knew, Arnold was giving me lessons on how to make you fall in love with me.”

They both laughed. “Shut up, he did not!”

“He did! Why do you think I insisted on saying ‘compbreadtition’ on TV?”

“I didn’t know at the time but I mean, I guess it was for love,” he half joked.

“And it worked.”

“Hmm?”

“You love me.”

“Maybe. You love me too though, so it’s fine.”

They’d gotten incredibly close; Kevin’s nose was brushing against Connors.

Connor’s hands gently slid up to Kevin’s shoulders, then to the sides of his face, then he was pulling him into a kiss. He took a few steps backwards onto the wall, Connor pressed up against him. Kevin’s arms wrapped around him as Connor moved his lips, kissing from his mouth to his chin, then along his jaw. He turned his head and moaned when Connor reached his ear. Connor was a great kisser, he thought.

“Kevin Price,” Connor said, smiling. “You are incredible.”

Kevin giggled; he really was whipped.

“I know, but so are you. And I really really really like you.”

Connor pecked his lips again, smiling. “Okay, the others must be wondering what on earth we’re doing, let’s go.”

Kevin pecked Connor once more, twice more, a few times more, before allowing himself to be led back to the others, hand in hand with Connor.

Crickets. Again.

No one really knew what to say. What was there to say? They’d already been acting like a couple the entire time. It hardly even felt like they’d just got together, it was more of a recognition of the fact that they were together.

“Um,” Connor tried.

“We came to the conclusion that we could’ve been dating for weeks, if I’d just said I was bi.”

“Kev?” Chris asked.

“Uh yeah?”

“We literally told you that weeks ago and you ignored us.”

“Con!” It was Arnold. Kevin shook his head, already anticipating the worst. “Before Kev came to his senses, he said you remind him of Cinderella because your eyes are so blue -- actually, he went on a really,  _ really _ , long rant about the exact shade of blue your eyes are -- and then, get this, he said that naturally he’d be your Prince Charming!” He was laughing. Kevin couldn’t even find it in himself to be mad; he was pretty sure he told Connor he looked like Cinderella at least once.

“Hmm,” Connor replied thoughtfully. “No, Kev, you give me more Flynn Rider vibes.”

“Wow, there’s a compliment. That makes you Rapunzel though, and she has green eyes.”

Connor just gave him an incredibly fond look, and it made Kevin’s hard ache. “I love that you know.”

“I’m glad you sorted this shit out, but that was the break, and bake off isn’t finished, and some of us don’t know who star baker is yet.” Naba interrupted them, half joking. “I really am glad you sorted things out.”

  
  


_ When Connor was told he’d just won bake off, he didn’t smile, not even a little bit. He turned to look at Kevin and silently walked over to him. “What do you think?” _

_ Kevin placed his hand on Connor’s cheek and said, “I think you deserve this. Smile: it’s a pretty look on you.” Connor did smile.  _

_ “You’re the best, you know.” Kevin giggled before pulling Connor closer to him, engulfing him in a hug.  _

_ “I know.” _

“And that… is by far… the gayest thing I’ve ever seen,” Arnold said, having already seen the scene take place in real life and now onscreen during the season finale. The rest of the room laughed.

Kevin just smiled and left a gentle kiss on Connor’s neck, who was sat on his lap, as usual.

After watching it back and remembering all the time he spent with Connor, Kevin realised he’d probably been in love with him the day he met him, and that love had just continued to grow into what he felt now. 

He loved every part of Connor. If the heavens came down and told him he wasn’t meant to be with him, he wouldn’t believe them. 

He whispered a quiet “I love you,” into Connor’s ear, and he could see the other boy grin before turning around to face him, pressing his nose onto his.

“I love you, too.” He kissed him so gently it was barely a kiss, but it was so loving and precious that Kevin felt his heart skip a beat anyway. When Connor turned around again, Kevin held him even closer, not releasing his boyfriend even after the final credits began to roll. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ummm that’s the end! What the fuck? Deadass over 10,000 words there of pure crack. Don’t know what came over me to write this but I’m just glad to have gotten over my writer’s block. Bye! Thx for getting this far if u read the whole thing!


End file.
